In Memoriam

May 20, 2008

Obama campaign reports $31 million raised in April

Even though the Democratic nomination is all but wrapped up for Barack Obama, the runaway train that is his fundraising apparatus shows no signs of losing speed. His campaign reported raising $31.3 million in April, and now has $9.2 million cash on hand - this is down somewhat from the $41 million that Obama raised in March, but still an incredible amount of money, especially at a time when the nomination battle is winding down. His fundraising machine continues to be powered by small donations; 94% of Obama's April money came in amounts of less than $200, and 200,000 new donors contributed to the campaign in April. For the entire election cycle so far, the campaign has received nearly 3 million individual donations, averaging only $91 per donation.

Meanwhile, despite having the best fundraising month that his campaign has had thus far, McCain is still lagging far behind, raising only $18 million in April. Perhaps I shouldn't say "only," because that's still a lot of money. But it's clear that there is a significant financial gap between the two candidates that will continue to grow as the campaign progresses. Money alone isn't going to win the race for Obama; he lost big to Clinton in West Virginia and Kentucky despite outspending her there. But money is a huge component of a successful presidential campaign, and having a cash advantage will definitely make a difference for Obama this November.